يا بارِقاً إِذْكَرَ الحَشَى حَزَنهْ
مَنْزِلُنا بِاْلعَقيقِ مَنْ سَكَنَهْ
O lightning-flash, calling the heart back to its grief,
Who now inhabits our dwelling in al-‘Aqiq?
وَمَرْتَعُ اللَّهوِ يانِعٌ خَضِرٌ
أَمْ غَيَّرَ الدَّهْرُ بَعْدَنا دِمَنَهْ
Is the pleasure-ground still flourishing and green,
Or has time, since we left, altered its traces?
يا بَرْقُ هذا جِسمي يَذوبُ ضَنىً
وَمُهْجَتي بِالْعَقيقِ مُرْتَهَنهْ
O lightning, this body of mine melts away from wasting love,
While my soul remains a hostage in al-‘Aqiq.
يا برق أشكو عساك تخبرهم
وكل من هام يشتكي شجنه
O lightning, I make my complaint—perhaps you will tell them;
Everyone consumed by love complains of sorrow.
بَلِّغْ حَدِيثَ الحِمى وَساِكِنهِ
لِمُغْرَمٍ أَنْحَلَ الْهَوى بَدَنَهْ
Carry news of the protected abode and its dweller
To a lover whose body passion has worn thin.
أَسْمِعْهُ ذِكْرِ الْحِبيبِ مُقْتَرِباً
فَقَدْ أَصَمَّتْ عُذَّالُهُ إِذْنَهْ
Let him hear the beloved mentioned as drawing near,
For his reproachers have deafened his ear.
هُمْ آَنسُوهُ لكِنْ بوَحْشَتِهِمْ
وَنَفَّرُوا عَنْ جُفونِهِ وَسَنَهْ
They kept him company, yet only through their estrangement,
And drove all drowsiness from his eyelids.
أَشْقَى اُلْمحِبِّينَ عادِمٌ وَطَراً
فَكَيْفَ إنْ كانَ عادِماً وَطَنَهْ
The most wretched lover is one denied his desire—
How much more so when he is denied his homeland.
سَقْياً لأِيَّامِنا التي سَلَفَتْ
كانَتْ بِطِيبِ الْوِصالِ مُقْتَرِنَهْ
May rain bless those days of ours that have passed,
When they were joined to the sweetness of union.
لَوْ بِيعَ يَوْمٌ مِنْها وَكَيْفَ بِهِ
كُنْتُ بِعُمْري مُسْتَرْخِصاً ثَمَنَهْ
If one day of them could be sold—but how could it?—
I would count my lifetime a paltry price.
إلَيْكَ يا عإِذْلي فَلَسْتُ أَنا
أَوَّلَ صَبٍّ جَمالُهُمْ فَنَتَهْ
Leave me, reproacher, for I am not
The first love-struck man their beauty has bewitched.
فَكَمْ لِنَفْسِي عَلَيَّ سَيِّئَةٌ
وَكَمْ لِمُوسى عَلَيَّ مِنْ حَسَنَهْ
How many wrongs my own soul has done me,
And how many favors Musa has bestowed upon me!
مُجازِفٌ فِي عَطاءِ آمِلِهِ
مُحَرَّرُ الرَّأْيِ عِنْدَ مَن وَزَنَهْ
He gives boldly and unstintingly to whoever hopes in him,
His judgment refined in the eyes of whoever weighs it.
لِلأّجْرِ وَالشُّكْرِ خازِنٌ أَبَداً
وَلَمْ يَصُنْ مالَهُ وَلاَ خَزَنَهْ
He stores up reward and gratitude forever,
Yet never guards his wealth or hoards it.
مُؤَيَّدُ الرَّأيِ مَنْ يُنافِسُهُ
تَحْتَ حَضِيضِ الْخُمولِ قَد دَفَنَهْ
Unerring in judgment—whoever vies with him
He buries beneath the lowest depths of obscurity.
لَو لَمْ تُقَيِّضْ لِلْجُودِ راحَتُهُ
لَمَ نَعْتَرِفْ فَرْضَهُ وَلا سُنَنَهْ
Had his open hand not been appointed to generosity,
We would never have known its duty or its tradition.
لَهُ بَنانٌ يَسْدي لَنا مِنَحاً
وَمَنْ يُعاديهِ يَشْتَكِي مِحَنَهْ
His fingers extend gifts to us,
While whoever opposes him complains of affliction.
